undressing, and I fell fast asleep. Then I had a dream. I dreamed that
all the miserable past was forgotten, and that Charles was with me once
more. Then he seemed to call me, and I woke up. Oh, it was such a vivid
dream, so vivid, that I could not sleep again! I was so restless and
anxious, that I made up my mind to come downstairs, and, as I was passing
a door just now, it opened, and the face of Charles looked out. It was
only for a moment, then two men behind him dragged him back and the door
closed once more."

"A foolish fancy," Fenwick growled.

"It was not," the girl cried almost passionately. "I tried the door a
moment later, and it was locked. I tell you that Charles is in that room.
I cannot go to bed again until I am certain of the truth. Oh, why do you
keep me in suspense like this?"

"Mad," Fenwick muttered. "Mad as a March hare. Why don't you send her to
an asylum?"

"She is not mad," the cripple said in a curiously hard voice. "Something
tells me that she has made a discovery. You rascal, is it possible that
you have Charles Evors under this roof?"

Fenwick laughed, but there was something uneasy and strained about his
mirth. He glanced defiantly at the cripple, then his eyes dropped before
the latter's steady gaze.

"Why should I worry about Evors?" he asked. "The man is nothing to me,
and if by chance--"